best first round nova build - melee

[n00b]

What's your best build for first round damage in melee? I posted earlier about a ranger/cleric and I'm not sure that's going to do what I want. I'm open to most any idea. The campaign is starting at lvl 1 so if you have advice on progression too that would be great. Thanks.

Edit: Absent rogue sneak attack. I've had a couple of those and I'd like this char to be more "in your face" if you will.

Edit2: Also let's just assume a normal encounter, no special circumstances that need to be met for the damage to hit a bajillion. A normal PC facing off against a standard humanoid or monster.

[Zanthy1]

Most basic could be like, a fighter or a paladin I guess. Though I don't recall if smiting starts at 1st level or 2nd. Fighter 1 though gets a fighting style, take great weapon as a vhuman with great weapon master and use a greatsword. 2d6+str, reroll 1's and 2's and you can take a-5 to hit to deal a +10 damage.

So roughly 2d6+13 (rerolling 1's and 2's on those d6's)

[Ganymede]

My Oath of Redemption Paladin is an absolute beast in the first round. He initiates combat with spells like calm emotions and sleep, then uses his stacked charisma score in order to deescalate the situation.

Oftentimes, he can trivialize big fights in a single round; he's a monstah!

[DivisibleByZero]

It really depends on a few factors.
When do you want it to happen (come online)?
How high do you want the build to go? Or what level do you expect to get to?

For instance, if you want it almost immediately, Monk is an excellent choice, but it doesn't hold up quite as well in the long run.
If you want it fast, but are willing to wait a little, your proposed Ranger/Cleric is an excellent choice, with Gloom Stalker and War Domain. Same goes for quite a few Fighter/Paladin/Barbarian.
If you're willing to wait a while, there are a lot more choices that become better than those even.

[trctelles]

My Oath of Redemption Paladin is an absolute beast in the first round. He initiates combat with spells like calm emotions and sleep, then uses his stacked charisma score in order to deescalate the situation.

Oftentimes, he can trivialize big fights in a single round; he's a monstah!

I think he wants to bash people into a pulp, not calm them down :smallbiggrin:

If you want to deal a bajilion damage from the start, grab v-human and GWM with as much STR as you can (be it point-buy or rolling for stats) and just one shot monsters from the start. Go for Battle Master later and grab Precision Attack to help mitigate the -5.

Paladin is the best nova damage (Divine Smite start at lvl 2) melee IF NOT MULTICLASSING... People will come here and talk Sorcadin and bla bla bla... To be honest, I think most of those builds, although effective, have little RP in it, or maybe I'm not very good at thinking on why my sorcerer started at lvl 1 for the CON prof, then turned to Paladin, and kept doing it for X lvls back and forth at an RP perspective...

If you want SINGLE class melee, it's either Fighter or Paladin, but most classes that can do well with GWM and Sharpshooter and just skyrocket their damage.

[strangebloke]

It's something like:

Bugbear
Fighter 2,
Paladin 5
Warlock 5
Sorcerer 8

You upcast Shadow blade at highest level, use paladin smite and use eldritch smite on every attack for 16d8 damage per attack or something like that. You action surge for two attack actions and then quicken and twin Booming Blade. That's six attacks at 16d8 + CHA, plus the BB damage.

If everything hits: 102d8 + 12d6 + 6 * CHA. Something like that.

Obviously crits pump this even higher. You can technically twin BB for each of your action surge actions for even more damage, but although that makes the numbers go higher I don't know that it's any better since it isn't single target.

[n00b]

It really depends on a few factors.
When do you want it to happen (come online)?
How high do you want the build to go? Or what level do you expect to get to?

For instance, if you want it almost immediately, Monk is an excellent choice, but it doesn't hold up quite as well in the long run.
If you want it fast, but are willing to wait a little, your proposed Ranger/Cleric is an excellent choice, with Gloom Stalker and War Domain. Same goes for quite a few Fighter/Paladin/Barbarian.
If you're willing to wait a while, there are a lot more choices that become better than those even.

I'm looking for it to maybe start coming online by level 4 or 5? Definitely before level 10. There are no definite plans but I'd be surprised if the campaign lasts longer than 10-15.

And yes, I'm just looking to beat monsters over the head. No trickery or subtlety to it.

[Specter]

Assassin, Paladin, zzzzz...

[DivisibleByZero]

I'm looking for it to maybe start coming online by level 4 or 5? Definitely before level 10. There are no definite plans but I'd be surprised if the campaign lasts longer than 10-15.

And yes, I'm just looking to beat monsters over the head. No trickery or subtlety to it.

Working at 4 or 5, and you're only interested in the first round, with no interest in setting things up or using sneak attack? Your initial Ranger/Cleric is an excellent choice.
Gloom Stalker 3 / War Domain 1, with just a rapier:
Attack: 1d8+mod
Dread Ambusher: 2d8+mod
War Priest bonus action: 1d8+mod
for a total of 4d8 + mod*3 (~27) at level 4, with no setup, Wis mod times per day for the first round of combat.
Level 5 (R4/C1): Toss Sharpshooter onto that if you want range, and you're potentially adding +30 (~57) if you can still hit with the -3 (assuming you took Archery).

5 levels of Ranger gets you Extra Attack (~64.5), and more Cleric throws in things like Spiritual Weapon and the like for sustaining your output beyond the first round of combat.

Straight Paladin is also an excellent choice if you want to keep things single classed and simple.

[n00b]

Working at 4 or 5, and you're only interested in the first round, with no interest in setting things up or using sneak attack? Your initial Ranger/Cleric is an excellent choice.
Gloom Stalker 3 / War Domain 1, with just a rapier:
Attack: 1d8+mod
Dread Ambusher: 2d8+mod
War Priest bonus action: 1d8+mod
for a total of 4d8 + mod*3 (~27) at level 4, with no setup, Wis mod times per day for the first round of combat.
Level 5 (R4/C1): Toss Sharpshooter onto that if you want range, and you're potentially adding +30 (~57) if you can still hit with the -3 (assuming you took Archery).

5 levels of Ranger gets you Extra Attack (~64.5), and more Cleric throws in things like Spiritual Weapon and the like for sustaining your output beyond the first round of combat.

Straight Paladin is also an excellent choice if you want to keep things single classed and simple.

It does sound like my initial thoughts of Ranger/Cleric work for what I want to do. Thanks for your input!